HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Greater Houston is still growing, but new census data shows the pace is shifting, and where that growth is happening is changing too.
The data showed the area is still growing, but it isn’t like it was compared to previous years.
Greater Houston added roughly 126,000 residents between 2024 and 2025, but that marks a 33% decrease from the year before.
While the population is still climbing, where people are choosing to live is shifting, and that has ripple effects on everything from schools to roads to the local workforce.
Researchers at Rice University Kinder Institute for Urban Research found that more people are leaving Harris County for surrounding suburban counties, and those outer areas are now driving much of the region’s growth.
Momentum is particularly building farther west in Waller County, which is home to cities like Prairie View, Brookshire, and Hempstead.
Waller County alone gained nearly 4,000 residents in just one year, which is a 5.7% increase, according to the data.
Researchers said housing affordability is a major driver behind this trend, along with companies bringing jobs to that area.
“There’s a lot more investment going on in Waller County, for example, in terms of industries choosing to locate there,” Kevin J. A. Thomas, Director of the Houston Population Research Center, said.
Thomas said this kind of shift to suburban counties can ease pressures in Harris County when it comes to traffic and infrastructure. However, he said it may also bring new challenges as well.
“There’s some evidence to suggest that we might be seeing some of that in terms of enrollment trends,” Thomas said. “In school enrollment trends.”
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